I stopped staring at my stat page and thought about my personal inventory tab. It brought it up to the front and only had one thing in it.
Inventory : 1/100 spots used.
Domain orb that contains village and keep (Uncommon).
I packed up everything inside the keep I had on me and in my inventory. I ended up putting on a common outfit that kinda looks like an off white long tunic with a brown belt and some brown sandals.
I thought about opening either my Keep interface or my Village interface. K.I. and V.I. for short but since they were both closed up into the orb I couldn't do anything with them. Both their tabs were grayed out. I just had to remind myself I did all the upgrades I could for both. I looked at the very top right corner for the time. I only had about 20 minutes left to go.
"Good morning, Jade. I am very glad to see that you are ready for your trip. I thought I would come and be there for you when you begin it."
I looked up into the face of Gaia, one of the Goddesses of this world . Or rather an AI being a Goddess. This was one of only a handful of times I had ever seen her. Just because I had been here before the kick off of this game didn't mean I got special treatment. I played just like everyone else but I played mostly the way I did because it was a job. I never got handouts or favoritism from anyone and meeting the Gods and Goddesses was special. I had only ever met them all at once. At the very beginning of the game, right before it launched. Then a few of them when they had questions they needed answered about why people did some of the things they did.
I love how each one got to pick their Godly names. Only a few here and there were actually in the same pantheon's. None were together, together as far as I knew. None were even related. Except for Gaia. The mother Goddess. Each AI was supposedly a piece of her. I guess Gaia is the perfect name for her. Mother of this game. Mother of the Gods. She kept everything running and helped all the developers and other God's. She was the big brain of this world.
The biggest computing power the world had ever seen then or now. At least as far as I knew. I really didn't keep up with the outside world any more.
"Thanks Gaia. It's nice someone actually came to see me off." I said as I got up.
"Well you were there for my birth into this world so I figured I could at least be here to see...you off."
She had hesitated but I knew she was trying for me. She knew just like I did. This could be the end of me. I was there for her birth so she would be here for what could end up possibly being my death.
She waved her hand and a fairy tale mushroom circle appeared on the ground. Psychedelic colored mushrooms that were nowhere in the game. Glitter and sparkly lights and all. I grinned from ear to ear and then began to laugh as I saw her wink at me. She was beautiful. Almost fairy-like with her skin and clothes done in what looked like every green there was. She had vines and flowers all over her.
"You know I couldn't have asked for a better send off then this." I said as I stepped over into the circle. Once I was fully into it I disappeared.
I opened my eyes as I felt myself complete again. Or as completely as I ever could. Being in the game world was like living on a muted down earth. Everything was barely there. Taste, touch and there was no smell. All anyone ever got was the whole, we are working on it speech. My missing limbs just felt like they were always asleep.
I was in an all white room. There were no door's, windows or anything. Just whiteness everywhere and Gaia standing to the side of me. One big green spot.
"I figured why not go out with a little style. Right?"
"Yeah that was awesome. I guess everyone knows I have a thing for fairy tales. Thank you again but are you supposed to be here with me?" I couldn't help but wave my hand slightly around the room. I knew I was basically in a waiting room.
"Yes. I was informed that I could be here with you. This will cause no issues. If anything with me being here if something were to come up I should be able to help right away. I mean I'm not saying it will but you know, precautions. Any help anyone thought of was to be used for this. So here I am." She said as she held her hands out to the sides of herself.
"I'll take all the help and precautions I can get. I really do appreciate this Gaia." I leaned over and gave a quick hug before taking a step back. I looked around the room again.
I heard a sharp gasp from her and looked back over to her. She was pointing back behind me. I turned to see what she was pointing at but nothing was there. I turned back around giving her a questioning look.
"You have a timer above your head that is counting down. It's at 15. 14. 13..."
I just lifted my hand hoping she would stop counting and closed my eyes. All I could think over and over was please don't let this hurt. Even though I was told many times there would be no pain, how would they even really know? I was the first right?
I screamed. O, did I scream. Over and over while I gripped my head. I fell to my knees. Tears running down my face. Or it could have been blood with how badly it hurt. I could not stop screaming. The pain was too much. Something was wrong. Something had gone horribly wrong. No one said there would be mind melting pain, everyone had said there wouldn't be any pain. Going from a dull life of numbness to this was too much.
"What is going on? She shouldn't be in any pain.-"
I could hear Gaia barley over my screams. Her words going in and out.
"This should not be happening!-"
What shouldn't be happening? Who the hell was she talking to? I Think I felt her arms slide around me but I wasn't sure. There was just so much pain. It felt like my brain was melting and was at the same time about to explode. I don't know how long this went on. It felt like forever yet only a few seconds. It went from my brain being in a vat of acid to I was just floating in a river of bliss and calm. The whiplash was real. I couldn't open my eyes though or they were open but there was nothing but darkness around me? I wasn't sure which and really didn't care. It had been so very long since I had any kind of stimulation of any magnitude. This had just wiped me out completely. I had no more to give. Why did I feel so weak? I felt like I just wanted to sleep and get some rest. I gave in after a few moments. I would just rest a little while.
YOU HAVE DIED.
Error.
Error.
Error.
You are not connected to the system.
Would you like to connect to the system?
Buzzer noises and a loud automated computer voice were all going at once. What the fuck was this shit? Big, bright, red lettering and a robotic male voice. It had just popped up. Again I couldn't tell if I were seeing it or if it were just appearing in my mind. Was I still in the game? Did it not work at all? Or... O, fuck me! It worked and I was connecting to the other system! I didn't remember the other game being on another system though... I was confused.
Would you like to connect to the system?
I tried to speak but that was not working. It was like my whole body was numb. I couldn't feel anything.
"Jade. Can you hear me? Please say yes or we will all be deleted."
Was that Gaia? It kind of sounded like her but like she was so far away and weak. How the hell would she die? She was an AI. I knew she could jump from game to game. I mean she was the big head AI and who the fuck was the all of us?
I felt so confused. My brain did not want to work at all. I couldn't move or talk. I couldn't feel anything. I didn't understand why Gaia was talking to me like this and then it hit me. The Villagers and the Keep people. Everyone would die with me. That wasn't supposed to be able to happen. None of this was supposed to be happening this way.
Warning.
Last warning to connect to the system.
Would you like to connect?
All I could do was think real loud and hard and hope that would work. That was the only thing I could do.
YES!
Thank you for joining your world to the system's. Please stand by while the connection is in progress.
Wait what? What the hell did that mean? Those were the only thoughts I could think about before I was knocked out again.
